The Good,The Bad and the UglyThe Good:Incidence of polio cases in the endemic countries is down almost 40% year after year. There have been no reported cases of polio in the Horn of Africa since October 8, 2013. Seven countries and territories are holding mass polio vaccination campaigns repeatedly targeting 22 million children under the age of five years over the next 6 – 8 months. In a joint resolution all countries of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region have declared polio eradication to be an emergency, calling for support in negotiating and establishing access to those children who are currently unreached with polio vaccinations.
The Bad:North Waziristan is the area with the largest number of children being paralyzed by the polio virus in Pakistan. Immunization activities have been suspended by local leaders since June 2012. It is critical that children in all areas are vaccinated and protected from the polio virus. Immunizations in neighboring high risk areas are being intensified to further boost population immunity levels in those areas and prevent further spread of this outbreak.The Ugly:There have been 224 cases of the polio virus surfacing in 5 additional non-endemic countries which had reported no cases of polio in 2012.